Consternation
by JazzGirlsBenny-Elfy
Summary: "I regret to inform you that Lieutenant Commander McGarrett has been killed in action."
1. Prologue

Consternation

A/N- set around mid season 4. Very short, but the actual first chapter will be (hopefully) posted soon.

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><p>Prologue<p>

Detective Danny Williams walked into Five-0 headquarters, relishing the cool air conditioning after the heated outdoors.

"Hey Chin!" he called out as he entered. "Sorry I'm late. Did you get my message?

"Yeah, Danny," Chin responded from further inside the building. Something sounded off in the older man's voice, and set Danny's nerves on edge. "By the way, there's someone here to see you."

"Steve?" Danny asked, walking faster towards Chin and the mystery person. His partner had been called back into the Navy for some classified mission, and he was due to be back any day now.

"No, Danny," Now there was definitely something off about the way Chin spoke. "Just get in here."

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><p>When Danny reached the main area of headquarters, he found Chin and Kono standing by the smart table along with a severe looking Naval Officer.<p>

The man spoke. "You are Detective Daniel Williams, correct?"

"Yes, I am," Danny said, fear beginning to touch his heart. "Why…."

The other man didn't give Danny a chance to speak, continuing on. "Lieutenant Martin. You are listed as the next of kin for Lieutenant Commander McGarrett?"

Danny only nodded, glancing at the cousins. They looked just as clueless as he felt.

Lieutenant Martin spoke again. "I regret to inform you that Lieutenant Commander McGarrett has been killed in action."


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N-Wow, a lot more attention than I thought! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed! **

**Third person PoV-Steve**

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

"Why, Steve? You're just in the reserves, and you're only supposed to have to give the Navy like, what, two weekends a year? But no, now they want to ship you off to God knows where for a month or more, with even more risks and dangers than you already have to deal with here? In what universe is this fair?" Danny ranted as he and Steve drove to work Tuesday morning.

"They need a team of people with my skillset and experience. The rest is classified. You're right, it's not fair, but I can't do anything about it. I'm sorry Danny," Steve tried to calm his partner down.

"Right, need a team with your skillset and experience. And _of course_ there's nobody else in the whole damn Navy who fits the requirements," Danny said sarcastically, glaring at the cars in front of him. "No, they have to pull an ex-Navy SEAL-who works in the governor's task force- back into the service and for what? To most likely get blown up, shot to death, or killed in some other heinous way!"

"That's what this is about, isn't is," Steve guessed. "You think I'm going to get killed, don't you."

"Yes I think you're going to get killed! If they need your skillset and experience, that means it's going to be insanely dangerous, with a high probability of not making it out alive! And who's going to be watching your back? Some random guys that you just met! Not people that you know, that you trust to have your back! How do you know that these guys aren't dirty and aren't going to shoot you the minute your back is turned? You don't! You don't know anything about these guys who are supposed to keep you alive out there!" Danny yelled, his voice gaining volume with each sentence. "I can't lose you, Steve," he murmured, voice breaking. "You're my brother, and I can't lose you. Please."

Steve looked over at Danny and placed a hand on his leg. "You won't, Danny. I promise I'll come home."

"You can't promise that," Danny muttered, but it seemed that Steve's promise had reassured him somewhat. "Mahalo."

"Of course, Danno. And you might want to go, the light's green," Steve reminded his partner, lightening the mood a little bit.

"Oh. Right." Danny accelerated as Five-0 headquarters came into view. "Dang, Chin and Kono beat us again. Where'd you say Cath was again?"

"Visiting her parents in Chicago. It's her mom's birthday tomorrow and she wanted to surprise her. She'll be back before I have to leave, though."

"Have you told her yet?" Danny asked as he and Steve climbed out of the car.

"Nah," Steve replied. "I was going to call her tonight, because of the time change."

"Makes sense. Does anyone else know?"

"No. I was planning on telling Chin and Kono this morning, or in the evening if we catch a case. Also, I was planning on having a barbeque at my place on Friday, before I leave. Just the team and Cath, and maybe Gracie if you want."

"That sounds…. surprisingly nice. We haven't really hung out outside of work much lately. And Gracie would most likely love to come, especially if it's the last time she'll get to see her Uncle Steve for a while," Danny said, sighing.

"Cheer up, partner. It'll be over before you know it, and you'll be missing the time when everyone followed proper police protocol," Steve joked. "If you don't have plans for tomorrow, want to come over for a Longboard? It's been a while since we hung out just the two of us."

"Sounds great," Danny replied as he and Steve reached the main room of headquarters.

"What sounds great?" Kono asked, looking up from her phone.

"Morning, Kono. Do we have any cases yet?" Steve asked, lifting an eyebrow at the youngest team member.

"Yeah, yeah. Morning boss, morning Danny. No, we don't have a case. What sounds great?" Kono asked again.

"Team barbeque on Friday, maybe with Grace too," Danny replied.

"Sounds fun," Chin said, walking in. "Any special occasion, or just for the fun of it?"

"I got called back into the Navy. I'll be gone about a month, if everything goes according to plan. I leave Saturday morning, so I'd like to spend my last night with the team." Steve informed the rest of his team.

"Want to spend your last night with the team, or with Cath?" Kono asked innocently, lifting an eyebrow.

Ignoring his cousin, Chin asked, "I thought you were just in the Reserves and wouldn't be called back for longer periods of time?"

"They need a team of people with my skillset and experience," Steve replied, parroting what he had said to Danny earlier. The detective rolled his eyes and stalked into his office, muttering something about crazy partners and paperwork.

"And by that, you mean that it's going to be dangerous, don't you?" Kono asked resignedly.

"Yeah, it will be. But I'll have a team of highly trained Navy SEALs who've all been in combat before. There won't be any newbies there, or anyone not meeting the standards, even by the slightest bit. So it won't be that dangerous, really. And this isn't a normal mission, so we don't have to worry about civilians, but that's about all I can tell you, sorry. Heavily classified." Steve tried to reassure his team. Judging by the looks they gave each other, it wasn't really working so well.

"Sure, boss," Kono said doubtfully. "Danny doesn't seem too happy about it, though."

"Well, you know Danno, always a mother hen," the Navy SEAL said loudly, trying to lighten the oppressive mood that had settled over the rest of his team.

"I heard that!" Danny called back. Chin and Kono laughed, and even Danny straightened up and looked less upset. Mission accomplished.

Just then, Chin's phone rang, startling the cousins. "It's Max," he called to the others as he headed into his own office. "Hey, Max, what's up?" Steve heard him ask as he closed his door.

Kono turned back to her boss. "You're sure there's no way you can get out of this? Can't you like ask the governor to tell them that you can't go?"

Steve shook his head regretfully. "Sorry."

Kono sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Damn this sucks. I just got back, and now you have to leave."

"I'll be back before you know it. It's only a month, maybe less if things go well."

"Hey guys, Max has something for us," Chin told them as he emerged from his office. "Body turned up at the morgue last night, no name, nothing about them."

"Okay, let's go," Steve said as Danny joined them.

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><p>Danny, surprisingly, voiced no complaints as Steve got into the driver's seat. "What, no rants about never getting to drive your own car?" Steve teased.<p>

Danny responded seriously, not taking the cue for their usual banter. "Well, I figure I'll get to drive while you're gone, so I'll try to avoid ranting about it before you go."

"Sure, whatever you say," Steve responded, and the two drove in silence the rest of the way to the morgue.


	3. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed! **

**Please read this note!**

**A note to reviewers- if you don't have an account here, or don't want to leave a comment but have questions, kik me (JazzGirlBenny) or PM me and I'd be happy to clear up any uncertainties. I don't take offense to anyone pointing out what they perceive as plot holes or things I'm doing wrong, and I would truly like to know honest opinions. After all, it's nice to get a bunch of reviews saying 'great story' or 'please continue', but those don't help me to improve my writing. I'm fine with any criticism, as long as it's something specific I can try to improve on and not just blatant insults. Also, I am considering doing a bonus chapter in a different PoV-namely not Steve or Danny. Drop me a review if you're interested in that, and please specify what character you would like. At the end of the story, please tell me which chapter or scene you would like done. **

Third Person PoV-Danny

Chapter 2

ME Max Bergman was waiting for the Five-0 team when they arrived.

"Hello, Commander, Detective. I trust that Lieutenant Kelly and Officer Kalakaua are on their way over as well?" The quirky man greeted.

"Hello, Max. Chin and Kono should be here any minute- actually I think they're here now," Steve said as faint footsteps were heard.

"Hey Max," the cousins greeted in unison as they entered the morgue. Chin continued. "You said this guy was just dropped off here last night?" he asked, nodding at the body on the table.

"Indeed. He was here when I arrived this morning. No identification, and no clothes other than a pair of swimming trunks, which I have sent over to forensics. I have also sent his fingerprints over, but have received no word on either item. He was killed," Max gestured at the neat bullet hole in the center of the man's forehead, "as you can see, by a single GSW to the forehead. There do not appear to be any defensive wounds, or any other wounds at all. No evidence of poison or drugs in the man's system. He was about mid forties, fairly healthy if a bit overweight, no remarkable past scars or anything else, really. Time of death was approximately 10 yesterday night."

"That's not a lot of information" Danny observed. That information was nearly nothing to go on, unless the swim trunks and fingerprints both held a lot of information about the man and his murderer.

Max seemed indignant. "I assure you, Detective, that I preformed a thorough autopsy on the victim. If you believe that you could glean more details from the body, feel free." The ME stepped back, gesturing at the body.

"That's not what I meant, Max," Danny protested. "I'm sure you got everything that you could from him. That's just not a lot of information; it's going to be hard to find out anything about the killer. That's not your fault, of course, I was just remarking about it."

Max seemed mostly pacified. "Well then, Detective. I will leave you four to your work. Good luck."

"Thank you, Max. Please call if you find anything else," Steve said, smiling at the ME.

"Of course, Commander."

"Kono, Chin, would you head over to forensics, see if they have anything yet? They should at least have the fingerprint match, if there is one."

"Yeah, of course, Boss," Kono replied, snatching the car keys from her cousin's hand. "Hurry up, cuz!" she teased, jogging towards the door.

Danny envied her ability to joke around and act normally. His thoughts had been taken over by Steve's situation, and he highly doubted that he'd be able to focus on anything else for the foreseeable future. Or until Steve got back. Most likely the latter.

"Danny!" Steve yelled, waving a hand in his face.

"Huh?" the detective asked, staring at his partner.

"You alright?" Steve looked at Danny with concern evident in his eyes. "I called your name three times."

"Yeah, yeah, fine." Danny muttered. "Just thinking. What are we doing now?"

Steve stared at him. "I said that we were going to go back to HQ, wait for Chin and Kono to get the ID. Didn't you hear me?"

"Eh…no. When exactly did you say this?"

"Right after Kono and Chin left. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I told you, I'm fine," Danny said irritably. "Are we going, or are we just going to stand here?"

He stalked off angrily, hearing Steve's footsteps following his after a beat.

"Danny…." Steve started.

"Don't. Just don't, Steve," Danny cut him off. Steve sighed quietly behind him, but remained silent.

When the pair returned to the car, Steve finally broke the silence. "Danno, I haven't left yet. Can you wait until I'm gone to mope and worry? I'm sitting right next to you! I'm perfectly fine, and yet you're sulking and pouting already. I don't want our last days together for a while to be like this. Please, Danny."

The detective was silent a moment as Steve pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the road.

"You're right," Danny finally said.

Steve looked over at him, amusement flashing through his eyes. "What was that, partner? Can you say that again, preferably while I'm recording it?"

"Hardy har har," Danny returned. "You're right about this _one thing_, and nothing else. So, no, Steven, there will be no recording of that. No."

"Whatever you say, Danno," Steve said altogether too cheerfully.

"Just drive, Steve," Danny snapped without any real heat in his voice.

**A/N- So sorry about the long wait! I haven't lost my muse for this story, I just had some very stressful things going on in my life. Things have mostly calmed down now, but I can't promise updates will be quick for about the next month. Starting next week, I have thirteen final exams to take, and three musical auditions to prepare for. After school ends, wich is about June 24, I should be able to devote more time to this. And sorry this chapter's so short, but I wanted to get it to you guys as quickly as possible. **


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